Date of Graduation

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Research independently examining athletic identity and aggressive sport behavior is quite extensive; however, the relationship between these variables has yet to be explored. Findings from the sport fandom literature regarding team identification and aggressive fan behavior provides a foundation on which to hypothesize about the potential role athletic identity may have in the expression of athlete aggression. Therefore, the purposes of the study were to: (a) further explore the utility and psychometric properties of the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) and the Competitive Aggressiveness and Anger Scale (CAAS), (b) examine the relationships between athletic identity, anger, and aggression in competitive athletes, (c) assess cross-cultural differences, and (d) test hypothesized pathways between variables predicted to contribute to sport aggression. A total of 569 male athletes participating in contact and collision sports in the United States (n = 362) and Hong Kong (n = 207) completed the AIMS, CAAS, and a modified version of the Context Modified Webb Scale. Results of the study showed support for future use of the AIMS and CAAS as sound measures of athletic identity, anger, and aggressiveness in both American and English-speaking Hong Kong Chinese athlete populations. Results also indicated small to moderate positive relationships between athletic identity, anger, and aggressiveness with differences in those variables found with respect to sport type (contact versus collision) and culture. Interestingly, group comparisons yielded significant differences between highly identified and lowly identified athletes in both anger and aggressiveness. Path analyses examined the influence of years of sport participation, perceived athletic ability, athletic identity, professionalization, and anger in aggressive sport behavior. Lastly, results indicated a good fit between the data and the proposed theoretical model accounting for 43.1% of the total variance in aggressiveness in American athletes and 56.5% of the variance in Hong Kong athletes.

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